I was thinking about themes for this week and decided to just go with miscellaneous things on my mind from the last few days.

— 1 —

For those who homeschool, may I *HIGHLY* recommend Postcrossing.Com as a way of supplementing geography instruction? The premise is simple. You sign up for an account and put in it as much personal information that you want to reveal, any preferences you have for postcards, and then you click on “send a postcard”. It gives you the name of someone in the world who has also signed up and you send them a postcard. Once that person gets the postcard, they register it and your name is given to someone else for them to send you a postcard. As an example, my profile is here. I even have one set up for Daniel if you want to see what a child’s account could look like. It’s been amazing to be part of this and I’m putting the ones for Daniel in an album for him to have when he’s older. I’ve also sent quite a few postcards to people who register their account for their family (i.e. “The Johnson Family” instead of “Bob Johnson”).

— 2 —

We’ve been getting our first rain of the fall this week. Despite the fact that the pressure changes can be migraine triggers for me, I’m loving this. I just kind of wish that the rain was beating on the windows instead of dripping from the carport. This weekend is supposed to be “good” weather though. I’m hoping for no temperatures above 75. This is October, for crying out loud.

— 3 —

Is anybody else irritated with seeing Christmas stuff in shops? OK… granted it was Michael’s and crafters have to get a leg up on Christmas but I’m going to be very stern and flustered if I see it anywhere else. Oh yeah… I also had to switch the CD playing machine off of Christmas music at Bed, Bath, and Beyond last Saturday.

— 4 —

“Hart of Dixie” is proving to be a pretty good series. The last CW series I liked or even really watched (because CW wasn’t part of cable or satellite when I lived in Minnesota and Montana) was “7th Heaven”. I can identify with Zoe feeling like a fish out of water and wanting to know what to do to fit into the town. I’ve had that everywhere I’ve lived and one of the things I learned to do was to do what the people do. I crafted with the women in the area every Tuesday morning in Montana until I got my job at UPS-SCS and I went to basketball games at the high school in Minnesota.

— 5 —

I ended up making the best pizza on the planet last Friday night. My parents and evil twin were joining us for dinner and there wasn’t going to be time for everyone’s pizza to cook on the pizza stone on the barbecue so Mom and I just baked ours in the oven. Tomatoes can incite IBS in me (it’s a 50/50 shot) so I eschewed tomato sauce in favor of homemade pesto, mozzarella cheese, feta, and black olives. The crust was the bulk mix from WinCo and it ended up being some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. And for the record, there is no such thing as too much pesto. Just wanted to make that last thing clear.

— 6 —

According to CNN, Bank of America is defending their “right to make a profit”. This is true — they have a right to make a profit. I also have a right not to bank with them. 🙂 My own bank (Wells Fargo) is trying out new fees on accounts as well. There are a number of banks doing this because new regulations cut into their profit margins. An alternative is to bank with a credit union.

— 7 —

I’m still standing with those protesting on Wall Street. I’m aware that protesters are being arrested and some of the arrests are due to them doing things like blocking off the Brooklyn Bridge or jumping over barriers. There are some unwarranted arrests and police officers using unnecessary force but it would be wrong of me to say that it was all the police’s fault and that the protesters are completely blameless.

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